Find Spot record MDO6033 - Roman finds, Shapwick

Surface finds of Roman pottery reported after turf cutting in 1954. A small quantity of pottery was examined at the time and was reported as being mostly Romano-British sandy grey ware, with a couple of pieces that may have been pre-Roman. Other finds are known to have been made at the same time.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1954, 95 (Serial). SDO54.

‘Bronze Age and later finds near Badbury Rings.
North of the Iron Age hillfort and close to the Roman road to Dorchester, the turf-stripping referred to in the introduction to these notes has since had archaeological results. Mr. A. S. Arnold Brown collected a number of sherds and flints from this area, about ST(31)/96420325, and these are in the Museum on loan (1955.44). All seven sherds are somewhat battered, but five of them appear to be normal Romano-British sandy grey ware, one of them an everted rim with an internal ledge. The other two are hand-made and probably pre-Roman. One of them, very coarsely gritted, would appear to be Iron Age; the other, a small sherd showing two rows of stab-marks, is probably referable to some phase of the Bronze Age.
The flints consist of five primary flakes of white patinated flint, one microlithic flake struck from a prismatic core, and one implement – an Early Bronze Age plano-convex knife about 2½ ins. long and 1¼ in. broad, with the centre area of the worked face left untrimmed [Footnote: Cf. Ant. Journ., XII, 1932, p. 158].
I understand from Henry Disney, a pupil at Marlborough College, that he has collected, and given to the Poole Museum, similar flints and pottery from the same area, and flints and a ‘magnificent hammer-stone’ from an area about 150 yds. W.N.W., north of the Roman road. Round scrapers and end-scrapers are numbered amongst the flints, all of which are white except a broken piece of a Neolithic celt.’

<2> Papworth, M, 1994, Shapwick Parish, Kingston Lacy Estate, Wessex Region, 62 (Unpublished document). SDO14228.

Romano-British pottery was found in 1954 immediately south east of the Roman road (112,047) and north of Badbury Rings. Similar finds have been made by David Smith, during fencing work in the vicinity. The finds indicate the site of a building or buildings near the Roman crossroads (112,309).

Record last edited

Dec 12 2018 10:35AM